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Derby House Fire

Six children have died after a house fire in Derby. Jade Philpott, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jessie, six, and Jayden, five and Duwayne Philpott, 13, all died in the blaze at their home in Allenton, Derby, on May 11th.

Sprinkler campaign after fire deaths

Nottinghamshire's Chief Fire Officer has joined the campaign for sprinklers to be fitted in new homes after the deaths of the six Philpott children in a a fire in Derby.

Frank Swann warns that an ageing population will lead to more people dying in house fires in coming years.

“The tragic incident in Derby has further highlighted the need for domestic sprinklers.

"The smoke alarm did its job in alerting some of the occupants to the fire -however, we believe that sprinklers could have protected those unable to escape.

“Enough is enough. Quite simply these losses of life are avoidable.

"We don’t ever want to have to report a similar incident happening here in Nottinghamshire."

He says, "If we wait for 25 years for evidence to say we should have introduced the widespread fitting of sprinklers - at current rates a further 8,000 people will have died in that time and 185,000 will have been seriously injured."

“Wales has already introduced legislation which will see all new-build domestic properties fitted with sprinklers as standard.

"It’s time England followed suit and we’d urge the people of Nottinghamshire to push this issue with their local councillors and MPs.

"When people are needlessly dying, doing nothing is not an option."

– Frank Swann, Nottinghamshire's Chief Fire Officer

People are being encouraged to pledge their support for the campaign by signing an online e-petition - if the petition receives the backing of 100,000 people it could be debated in Parliament.